The Wiscasset Redskins
Perhaps Sanford school officials dread the contentious debate that inevitably surrounds changing names that some hold as proud and deeply cherished traditions. Such a dispute happened during the 1999-2000 school year when the Wiscasset school board formed a committee to explore changing their nickname in the wake of receiving protest letters from Native American groups.
Susan Poppish, Wiscasset High’s principal, was a member of that committee. Unlike her Sanford counterpart, Poppish has no doubts as to the origins of the term “Redskins,” though she appears unaware of Goddard’s study. “There’s a lot of literature out there that proves the origin of the name had racist overtones,” she says. According to Poppish, it came from “Redskins being done in a bounty sense. The red skins were collected by bounty hunters as proof they had killed Indians.”
But the 1999 committee could not find unanimity on that subject. Its final report plainly illustrates the members’ contentious differences on the subject, with one member claiming that the committee’s work had “all the integrity of a witch hunt.” After hosting several contentious meetings to gather community feedback, the committee eventually resolved to keep the Redskins nickname.
Wiscasset superintendent Jay McIntire says the Redskins debate doesn’t surface in his town very often. “In the time I’ve been here, which is two years, I’ve received two or three letters from outside groups. There was one parent who was concerned about their child wearing a uniform that said ‘Redskins,’” says McIntire. The issue comes up “probably once or twice a year.”
It is likely to come up again soon, though, as part of discussions between Wiscasset and seven other towns, which all voted November 4 to consolidate their school districts. Whether they keep one of the towns’ nicknames or choose an entirely new one remains to be seen.
McIntire admits that a Native American student complaining about the “Redskins” nickname would present a difficult issue, but, “Those are not situations that have come up in Wiscasset.” However, McIntire did note that, like in Sanford, “The name still exists, but a lot of visual representations have been removed.” Why does Wiscasset keep a mascot they can’t represent? “That’s a really good question,” McIntire says, “but it’s not a question for me. It’s a question for the people who were on the school board eight years ago.”
Asked why he thinks some towns have made nickname changes while others have not, McIntire says, “Clearly, some communities have not reached the level of sympathy and understanding that others have.”
The Scarborough Redskins?
So, which town will field the last Redskins team? Scarborough town manager Ron Owens retired before Election Day, but while he was still on the job, he predicted that it wouldn’t be his municipality. “I think most people realized they couldn’t use ‘Redskins’ because that would be considered derogatory,” he says.
That’s why, despite the petitioning Scarborough alumni initially wanting to return to “Redskins,” “People thought about that, and thought, we’re just going to run into the same problems,” says Owens. He added, “As a political body and as a community, we need to respect people of all backgrounds.”
Sanford superintendent St. Cyr thinks her town will be last. “My guess is that Wiscasset will get rid of it first,” as part of their consolidated school district, she says. Regardless, St. Cyr allows that circumstances might arise that brought the issue to the fore in Sanford. “If it came up in the community again, the school board would reconsider,” she says.
Even the most ardent “Redskins” supporter, Principal Young, allows that the nickname’s tenure might eventually expire. “If I were a betting man, which I’m not,” Young says, “but if I were, I’d bet that there will be a day when it will rise to the top and it will be addressed. In many ways, when that does occur it will be a sad day. It will be a sad day because of what people feel, and it’s hard for people to understand why our community feels so strongly about it.”
Rick Wormwood can be reached atrickwormwood@gmail.com.
